Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus – stage design vs environment

Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus is getting a remake of types in Oddworld:Soulstorm, and a trailer simply “dropped” yesterday. The unique Abe’s Exoddus is my favorite of the Oddworld video games, however I feel that in taking a step again and it, there’s one thing of a step down from the unique Abe’s Oddysee in a number of essential methods.

Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee has a way of place that is largely lacking from Exoddus and I put this all the way down to the extra regimented, “gamey” stage design of the follow-up. Abe’s Oddysee has a reasonably pure circulation to its levels and whereas I would be a idiot to say it transcends its type, I really feel very a lot drawn into the environment. There is a tangible sense of hazard and worry across the Stockyards, the mysterious, eerie Monsaic Awakenings, uneasy isolation of Paramonia, the sense of oppression in Scrabania, and so on, and so on. It is all there and all of it feels proper, it envelopes you in its world.

Exoddus would not do pretty much as good a job of this. From the off, you are in a a lot “gamier” world, with far more overt, linear tutorials. Necrum Mines acts as one enormous tutorial and whereas there are many secrets and techniques to seek out and it is undoubtedly lots of enjoyable, it is characterised by a really simple “do that precisely or die” mentality. Moreover, the segregation of every space of the mines lends it far more of a “stage one, stage two, stage three” conventional really feel that Oddysee evaded nearly utterly – the return to Rupture Farms is split into “Zulags”, however I feel we will forgive that seeing as it is the very finish of the sport.

Shifting via Exoddus once more lately, I could not assist however discover how usually it relied on extraordinarily clear “problem rooms”, with each the Mudomo and Mudanchee vaults, in addition to Bonewerx, the Slig Barracks and Soulstorm Brewery all consisting of, mainly, a collection of doorways that result in smaller-scale challenges/puzzles. There’s nothing unsuitable with this – Oddysee makes use of it to good impact in its Temple levels – however when it occurs so regularly it begins to really feel like markedly much less effort was put into how the sport matches collectively.

I nonetheless desire Abe’s Exoddus total – the myriad new components add so much to the sport (there is a motive they added “All o’ ya” to Oddysee’s 2014 remake, Oddworld: New N’ Tasty) and the person bite-sized challenges are actually lots of enjoyable. However I can not deny that it does really feel a bit of extra rushed than the unique. In all probability as a result of it was, I do not know. It wasn’t alleged to be a mainline Oddworld Quintology sport. Apparently the upcoming remake modifications that, successfully putting Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee from the canon.